Day House

A four-storey new-build house in a mews tucked behind one of Islington's grandest Georgian terraces, completed in 2014. Day House replaces a 1970s timber infill whose structure was failing and whose internal layout, hampered by awkwardly-placed stairs, had produced cramped rooms and a difficult flow. The owners, a couple closely interested in architecture, opted to start again. The new house sits within the original roofline and plot footprint, with a basement added below to gain floor area.

The defining internal move was to reposition the stair, running it front to back opposite the entrance. That single decision freed up ceiling height and let the principal rooms relax into generous proportions. The brick party walls of the previous house were sound and were kept in place, allowing a timber infill to be dropped between them. The approach kept the works contained, lowered cost, and reduced disturbance to the neighbouring properties.

On the ground floor a street-facing studio sits at the front, with a kitchen and dining space at the rear opening to the garden through a four-metre wide frameless 'up and over' window. The main living room, on the first floor above the kitchen, looks straight into the trees behind the garden through another large window. The top floor is given over to the master suite, with the ensuite tucked into the pitch of the roof so the bedroom and bathing space read as one continuous volume. A guest suite occupies the new basement level.

Externally, the house is wrapped in zinc that folds in one continuous skin from the elevations across the roof. The cladding buys extra wall depth for super-insulation and gives the elevations a clean, restrained rhythm. The standing seams set the spacing for the windows, which are grouped in sets and either inset or projected from the line of the zinc.

Day House is designed to Passivhaus principles: airtight, super-insulated, with whole-house mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, and efficient heating and fittings throughout.

Photographs by Nick Guttridge and Andy Stagg.